U can't claim benefits if your skint

(This post is being updated in the comments below as and when i receive more ridiculous information from the benefits 'helpline')

For one reason or another i am having to claim benefits again.

As a full time student, full time mother of a full time student son this is not as easy as some may think. Having changed the rules yet again on how to claim benefits one can no longer just pop into your local, friendly job centre; you now have to claim online or phone the help line.

This is the automatic text message i received after going through the grueling online process:

Please call 0906 664 7058 for UK benefits support. Lines open 0800-2200hrs www.BenefitsHelpline.com Cost £1.50/min ADMIN:08444153905 18 ONLY

..but is not the point of claiming benefits that the claimant has no money? And at £1.50 PER MINUTE I certainly don't have the credit to call. And to add insult to injury the slightly cheaper 0844 number cuts you off immediately forcing you to phone the more expensive line.

Last year when I applied for Housing Benefit, I was sent to 3 different job centres just to find a free phone to use because I was told at the time that you could only use the internal phone if a claim had already been submitted. Exasperated by this thirst-enducing mission I begged them to allow me to use the phone. The final place let me (in fact it turns out that the other two places had given me incorrect information). I gave them all my details over the phone. Then I received by post a 58 page form to fill out and had to produce about 9 seperate pieces of documentation. I don't quite understand why because most of the details they should, or at least could, have on a centralised system because they were for proof of, for example, Child Benefit which is claimed through another Government department.

After sending them off I was then called to an appointment at the job centre. There I was kept waiting for ages even though it was fairly quiet with counter staff mainly twiddling their thumbs [plz see comments below on this point-I don't know how to correct this appaling use of language without re-writing history]. I spoke to a kind women (most of them are really friendly, if not disillusioned) and asked why the whole process seems so bureaucratic and complicated. She spoke about new management rules and outsourcing and was clearly as cheesed off as I was.

Upon being called I was given 3 more sets of forms with all very similar but substantially different questions. Seemed like trick questions to me. Questions like; Do you think you may be claiming benefits illegally? (reminds me of the American airline green entry forms which ask 'Have you ever commited Moral Turpitude?' which, by the way, none of the air stewards knew what it was. I asked because I was terified of lying! Or 'Have you ever or do you intend to commit any acts of terrorism?' erm, not sure if the correct answer would have been 'let me just check if my bomb is ok'...)

You need a degree to be able to fill out these forms correctly without shooting yourself in the foot. Me 'ADHD' does not help either. God help you if English is not your first language.

And the temperature in the benefits office keeps getting hotter and hotter both in terms of moneysaving lack of airconditioning and from the increasingly frustrated claimants and staff.

I can't remember the exact details but was eventually told that i couldn't apply for Unemployment benefit but possibly could claim Housing Benefit. But this is done at a different office. So, the whole process started again.

At the Housing Benefits office (and I'm trying to spare you more of the mundane details here like, for example, there being no letter box and not being able to hand them to counter staff because I had arrived one or two minutes after closing time) I reached another impasse. Apparently you can't claim HB if you have no income. My advisor said that I could pretend someone had lent me money, and in fact a mate had in fact lent me £200 to get me through. So, we went ahead.

Long story cut short, I finally received notification in February 2009; I started this process in August 2008 at which point I received 21, yes TWENTY ONE different letters, all in different stamped envelopes all stating different amounts for different weeks!

And, to top it all off, the £200 loan had been deducted from my overall entitlement of £45 per week.

Now, call me cynical if you may, but I would like to propose that there are some people who do not want to help out those that need it the most.

So, here I go again. Can any one give me the money to make the phone call ( We can't say loan because they may dock me for it!)

I will write analysis of this soon-i just wanted to vent my anger somewhere first!

I know I have plugged this poem before but it is so relevant that I'm sure it will shed light on my plight.


Sent from my iPhone


http://solomonsmindfield.net
http://twitter.com/solomonsmfield